LEAVING SYRACUSE

6 Jun 2011

We have been sitting on the anchor at Syracuse for the last 4 days waiting for the wind to change direction so we can actually sail towards Greece and Croatia. This has been a good stop, getting the dinghy out and going ashore to explore the town and find the ubiquitous supermarket. It is a very old place and so far relatively unspoilt. We have also needed a stop as I had picked up some insect bites which have been gruesomely painful and itchy, with a leg swollen and sore, fit only for sitting in the cockpit with a wet towel over it and doing some sewing (as one does). Dave has done his furtling about with the engine and only managed to squash one finger and lose a spanner into the bilge. Of course it was THE spanner, and has since been retrieved with cunning and skill and a piece of bent wire. So we are all healed up, dinghy stowed and getting ready for a morning start. All we need is for the wind to follow the predictions - but it would seem to have a predilection for coming from the direction we are travelling to. It has been quite an international community here anchored up and as we all seem to be going the same way, is beginning to thin out a bit. The biggest shock has been trying to cope with Italian after being spoilt with the bi-lingual Maltese. I have found if I try my Spanish we get there, and there is no substitute for sign language. Just go to the pharmacy and start scratching and you get the right stuff with a concerned tut tutting which I took to be sympathy.

We wish our Michael a very happy birthday for tomorrow when he turns an unconscionable age, and also a very happy 19th and a bit anniversary to Rachel and Andy.